Groby action group is the website of Groby Parish Residents Group campaign against HBBC's plan to create a Residential Site for Gypsies and Travellers, and a 109 unit housing development in the village of Groby, Leicestershire.

See page 57 - Policy 18 relating to the number of residential and transit pitches for the Borough and where such provisions for travellers planning applications will be given planning consent. Not everyone seems to be aware of the implications that this document sets out which was agreed to by the Council members on 28th October 2008 and followed up with a public consultation period that ended last Friday 12th Dec and also open for discussion at the Community Forum held at Bagworth on Thursday 27th November. I heard about this meeting by word and mouth only.The full implications i.e. planning permissions for travellers sites would be given in accordance with Policy 18 of the above document were not universally known i.e. consent will be given applications within settlement boundaries. The unadopted minutes of this meeting are attached (Community Forum). The numbers of pitches for the Borough and the County come from the GTAA (Gypsy & Travellers Accomodation Assessments) which can be found on page 122 of the document on the link below. http://www.leics.gov.uk/full_report.pdf

The GTAA's are not final documents and will be subject to constant revision based upon ongoing need. This need will increase if more travellers arrive in response to transit sites being made available. It is rather like the building of motorways to reduce congestion and travel time only led to more traffic and a bigger problem. The link below is an authoritative study by Birmingham University published by the BSHF British Social Housing Foundation which looks at the progress of the GTAA's highlighting some key weaknesses which could be useful if required to challenge the science and methodology behind them. The study reveals weakness and also shows the bias of the study itself. i.e. should there be a distinction between need, demand and desire. and so on.http://www.bshf.org/ukhpp/gypsies-and-travellers/publication.cfm?lang=00&thePubID=905E1568-15C5-F4C0-99EB35BF91B47990

Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council are to vote on January 20th 2009 on the preferred options i.e. precise site allocations of both transit and residential pitches in the borough. The public consultation on where these go begins Jan 27th after the council has already made its mind up where they are going. The need for the borough to allocate numbers derived from the GTAA's are in accordance with the requirements of the housing act 2004 and it's Core Strategy is in compliance with a very wooly Core Strategy RSS8 document (East Midlands Regional Plan) published by the Regional Assembly in 2005. A partial review of this was conducted this year and open for public consultations which closed on Friday 17th October 2008. Where were we informed, nothing on notice boards, nothing through letter box and this is where the key opportunities arise.. The EMRA website does not appear to contain information about representations made by H&BBC re pitch numbers or what meeting took place if any to discuss this or the Secretary of States proposed changes..http://www.emra.gov.uk/files/pr-rss-proposed-change25-9.pdf Press release.

http://www.gos.gov.uk/497296/docs/191913/237644/rss8.pdf The full RSS8 Document 2005I may be blind, but I cannot see a reference to travellers only a wooly reference to social exclusion on page 14.As far as housing allocations are concerned the emphasis is on Urban rather than Rural development. Page 16.